FLEMINGTON — “Is it the sign or the ordinance that’s a problem here?” asked Councilman Phil Greiner, as he wondered whether the borough’s rules regulating signs and banners are too strict. At the July 29 Borough Council meeting, Greiner said he would conduct an evaluation of sign regulations.

Resident Lois Stewart has been an untiring campaigner for years against signs and banners that she believes give the borough a ragtag appearance. She asked Greiner, “Do you want a tacky town?” She believes the regulations just need enforcing or tightening, and she often lists the signs and banners that she believes are detrimental to the borough’s appearance.

At the July 29 Borough Council meeting she said, “The pizza shop has a banner now. Maybe it’s been approved. We have Silver Oak Learning Center signs all over town. I don’t think some businesses should be allowed to run up and down the streets putting those wire signs anyplace they choose. That’s just not the way I think this town wants to look. Over at Dunkin’ Donuts instead of them taking them down, there’s more of them up.”

When a resident complains about signage that her or she doesn't like, the zoning officer, who is familiar with the borough's sign ordinance, investigates to see whether the sign is legal.

The list Stewart had presented at the previous council meeting had not been acted upon, Greiner said, because the enforcer, Zoning Officer Jeff Klein, had been on vacation.

He said he had photographed the signs she mentioned last time, including a white neon-style illuminated “vacancy” sign in the window of the cat hotel. He said he would give the pictures to Klein, but he has already “gone to a number of people and I’ve asked them: Do you find this offensive? No. Do you find this offensive? No. Do you find — No. Most people I’ve asked do not find many of these signs offensive. So that’s causing me to ask: Is it the sign or the ordinance that’s causing the problem here?

“As you bring things up,” he told Stewart, “I’m going to photograph them. I will still give them to Jeff; I know the law is the law.” But he will also show them to council and Planning Board members to see how they feel about these signs and banners. “I will start to use this as a systematic way to look at what’s OK and what’s not OK.”

Mayor Erica Edwards does not mind revisiting the sign ordinance. She said after the meeting that a lot of struggling businesses have said they need every possible avenue for promotion, and she believes they deserve to be heard.